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Session 15
Game date July 2, 2011 Game notes 7 XP for last session. Game log November 17th (cont.) * We debate whether to bury Giles due to the imminent threat, and decide that the threat isn't actually imminent since they left us alive as soon as the Yanomami were dead. ** So, we bury him with the help of Masters and Jenners. Other than Luo, no one is really against the idea. Jenner and Raoulette are grumbly because of the labor involved. ** Myers and Priestley says some words over the grave. * We have some general idea of which way to go (North), but we're not exactly working off of a map. We think we know of a few possibilities (based on imprecise ideas of where rivers start) of where plateaus can be found. We are a good bit West of the River of Death, and there's a tributary indicated that comes from our area. ** We don't know where the last expedition went exactly because they lost their navigation equipment. They went a month North from Bakairi post and turn east early a month later. We also know they headed northeast for a while on Oct. 10th somewhere West of where we are. Then about 2-3 weeks later, they lost most of their gear in a flood on Nov. 3rd. The next directional entry in Letty's diary is in December, when they talk about the plateau to their east (during which their camp was raided) and headed North for a week before finding the cannibals that kidnapped their people. ** We have no indication of what happened to Fawcett after he was a week east of the Kalapalo village. ** Joan is for going North. * Our camp construction is a bit overbuilt for our current party size. We have some options. We can get rid of stuff, make more sleds, etc. We make four sleds and dump some of the pipe for weight (and keep some for possible trade items). * With our loads lightened a little bit and sleds distributed. Our scouts don't get sleds. That includes Masters, Mattheson, and Adams. * Yay, traveling finally happens! Days pass. Traveling is easier with lightened packs and no packs at all at some times. There's issues with bumpy terrain at times, but it's better overall. ** Curtis Anthony is very, very dark. Russel, no change. Joan Fisher, has a fully integrated aura. Bryce, slightly worse. Myers, fully integrated. Priestly, is very, very black. Dworkin, getting worse. Felginer, is up there. Mattheson is kind of middle, worse than Bryce and Russel. GIlmore is like Anthony. ?? is like Felginer. O'Doul is okay. Adams has no change. Masters is middling. Jenner and Raoulette has significant corruption but are not overtaken. Masters was a little worse. * After a week, Masters notices off to the side some human tracks. Barefoot and somewhat on the small side. They are north of the party and heading west. ** Masters, Adams, and Mattheson debate what to do. Masters is worried about an ambush. He wants to follow the tracks and see where they go. ** They talk with Dr. Russel, and he agrees that they should scout. Unfortunately, he has to stay with the camp. Masters goes with Adams and Mattheson to scout out the village. * As they track the natives, the find a few small splatters of blood along the trail. Adams points out that they've seen plenty of instances of people cutting themselves for ritual reasons. After a while, they debate whether the long trail of blood drops is an attempt to lead someone into a trap. ** They continue searching well into dusk, knowing that they can't make it back to the camp before dark. Eventually, they come to a large clearing. There are buildings and crops of yucca, bananas, and maize. But there are no people. The tracks go into the village. ** They can smell cooked food, meat and veggie. * Adams and Mattheson discuss the issue of using a spell to understand the people's language. They talk about where to hide the wound. Masters asks what they are talking about. Mattheson lies and says that he's picked up the talent from hanging out with the academic types. * Mattheson pretends to go take a dump to cast the spell after cutting into his thigh. He comes back and enters the village. It's a circular layout around a central area near a stream. There's one building that's taller than the others on the perimeter. As Mattheson approaches the entrance, he hears something. As he peeks inside, he sees several hundred people sitting at tables and eating together. ** All of the party members are pretty danged hungry. * Thomas backs away from the door and calls out a greeting. A few heads cautiously appear through the doorway and look at him askance. ** There is some confused chatter inside, and then two people come out with spears. ** One leans over to the chief and says, "Chief, he looks like the demons in the jungle." ** Thomas gives the, "We come in peace (and are totally not with the demons)" speech. * Meanwhile, as Thomas is calling out, Adams feels a tap on his shoulder. Masters says that it looks like they have company; a couple of people are watching them from the jungle. Once made, they come out cautiously with spears ready. ** The two warriors approach and start barking orders in a language neither Early nor Maxwell understand. They hope that Thomas can get them out of this as they're led by the spears. * Masters and Adams a led back into the village and meet up with Thomas. The chief is not convinced of their intentions and isn't sure whether to let them live or not. ** Thomas bribes him with a machete as a gesture of goodwill. He accepts it and then turns to Adams and asks about them. Masters doesn't want to give up the rest of the machetes because it'll take forever to get back. Adams turns over a pocket watch, and Masters gives a red, white, & blue bandana. ** They go back inside and hand them three gourds filled with roasted nuts. ** "Now that we have exchanged goodwill..." they invite them in for food. * As they enter the dining hall, conversation dies down. The chief is the only one with much in the way of clothing or jewels. The two men with the spears that led the two in the jungle in return to the jungle. ** Many of the tribesmen are curious and come over and start feeling their hair and clothes. They are curious about pockets since no one has them. A kid surprises himself with a flashlight. * Thomas asks the chief about the demons in the jungle. He says that far away from here there is a place that is cursed. They say it is three days away for their warriors. The demon causes great fear to all who come near its dwelling place. It has taken over part of the jungle, which is filled with great screams and howling sounds. ** They have very few dealings with the Yanomami and do not know the Kamayura. * He thinks of what Russel would do and asks about their way of life. They say things have been good for them. They have plentiful food, like monkey. Plentiful fish in the river. They do some trades but not as much. The tribes near to them have all been caught in this violence. ** Their neighbors are the Yanomami, Kuykuro, Waiwai, and Nukakmaku. ** These people are the Maxuvi. * Back at the camp, we're down to Jenners, Myers, and Russel for watch. Joan and Priestly have proven themselves. O'Doul is a stout Irish guy. Joan actually says that she's flattered. The other two acquiesce as well. Joan with Jenners, Myers with Russel, and O'Doul with Priestley. We decide to stay a day and move on midday if they are not back. They can follow us if still alive. ** Skipping ahead, nothing really happens overnight. Russel doesn't strike up a conversation with Myers. * Back in the village. Thomas tells them that they are moving to do battle against the demon and asks for their help. The chief does not think the demon can be fought. They say the demon has ignored them so far, since it occupies a small area. There have been five hands of moons and no change. ** Thomas tells him about the camp and asks if he would mind sheltering them for a bit before they head onward to meet the demon. ** Masters asks if Mattheson trusts them. He says that he trusts them more than any other group we've met in the area. They may be the last non-hostile tribe in the region. * Morning comes, and the villagers sing as the sun rises a prayer of thanks to the gods for a new day. Their prayers are to a god of the sun and birth, Chimaxa. ** Adams asks Masters to tell Russel in private that this village carries no idols. * While Masters heads back to bring the expedition forward, Adams and Mattheson are put to work processing plants. Mattheson asks for permission for Adams to take pictures. He shows them a picture from home. The chief wants a picture of his village made, but they don't have the chemicals with them on their plane. ** A long debate over how to develop film in the jungle (without chems.) ensues, and Mattheson tries to Scotty up a pinhole camera. They somehow manage to get a descent photo made, and the chief wants another of just himself. That one doesn't turn out so well, so they try again. November 23rd * Through the morning there are murmurs about the missing members. By midday, Early returns with news of the Maxuvi village. We rally the group to head over. ** Masters relays the news about the amulets, and Russel tells him that's great news since it means they aren't involved in the war between the two sides. He does suggest rustling up a snake or a gator. ** He ends up going off alone and finding a boar instead. * Around dusk, the rest of the expedition arrives at the village. Mattheson fills Dr. Russel in on the details of the village and how they aren't going to come with us. ** We go up to the chief, he exchanges greetings with Dr. Russel. The reference to our generosity is basically a bid to exchange items. We make our offer of gem-like baubles, the boar, and some pipes. They like the offers. * All the tribes in the area fight each other. There is much craziness. They rarely attack the Maxuvi, but their warriors are stout with sharp eyes. They used to trade with some of them, but their attitudes changed and the first fights started four years ago. (Fawcett disappears in '25, 5 years ago.) He does not know why they have started fighting fully since they have not spoken much; when they did talk, they spoke strongly of their religion and wished to share. They did used to worship the same gods, but the practice of the religion changed. They do not talk of their enemies, but they speak of the power of their gods and the strength of their magic. They did used to trade. ** Side note: Their language is not related to that of the Yanomami, but there's some similarity to other languages he's heard before. The Maku and Kalapalo. * The Demon stays in a place in the jungle a few days near the base of a high place. The Warriors who found him came back terrified, and the ones who went to scout it out also came back terrified, having heard many screams and noises. He sends warriors every few moons to see if he is still there, and they come back talking of the screams. ** He offers to give us two warriors to take us to the spot (and one to tell the tale of it). * We speak to one of the warriors who were afflicted. He barely remembers the event. There was screaming and something that looked like a man but was not a man. He was not right -- twisted and wrong. The face was like ours. The screams were his. * Meanwhile, the chief will gladly regale us with stuff about their gods and their native astrology. * We stay for a day before moving on. ** Luo spend some time learning more local remedies. November 25th * We begin our trek to the north with 2 Maxuvi guides. They are interested in our sleds. The Maxuvi camp out with the group and look curiously at the bedrolls and other things. * After a couple of days, we begin to hear the cries of something we've never heard before in the throes of some sort of pain and agony. It goes up and down in register and volume and is almost constant in presence. According to the tribesmen, it has been like this the whole time. ** Through occasional breaks in the canopy, we can see glimpses of high land. ** Once we reach a certain point, the tribesmen turn back and we prepare a party to scout out further. * Dr. Russel, Early, Luo, and Joan form the part to go further in. Dr. Russel leaves Myers in charge and asks him to wait three days before moving on. We leave at midday. * It takes nearly an hour. There is a lot of overgrown area, and the animal life is scarce in the area. Eventually, we come to a small clearing. There is some kind of detritus in the clearing. Looks like fabric & metal. The screaming and moaning is ear piercing at this point. ** Scattered around and intertwined with a layer of undergrowth is the remnants of something manufacturers. Their are buckles, straps, thin strips of fabric, much of which is pierced by the foliage and burned at some point. Some of it appears to have been tents. The other stuff could have been sacks of some sort. There also appear to be human remains; the bodies are mummified (in the jungle!). ** Checking back to the December entry, the last expedition made camp west of a plateau, and there is one to the east of us now. Luo checks the bodies and finds a pocketwatch with an inscription gifting it to Dr. Dunn. ** The source of the scream seems to be coming from the north but might be close. There is a tree blocking our view to the north. ** Several of the bodies have bullet wounds. Dr. Dunn's was hacked severely. Some of the bodies do not have clothes and are misshapen, particularly around the skull and hands. One has no teeth but a serrated ridge. Another has elongated fingers with suckers on them. * Dr. Russel gets ready to check behind the tree, but Master volunteers to take point. He edges up and looks around the tree and turns white. He asks how much whiskey is left at the camp. (Not enough.) There's no point in him going back there, he says. Dr. Russel asks if it can be put out of its misery. He doesn't think so. ** Luo's noble stimulus forces him to go check. On the other side appears to be a Caucasian man sitting up in pain screaming. Most of his body has been absorbed by the tree, with only his face showing. There are fragments of what appear to have been arrows sticking out of the trunk, in line with ridges in the wood. There are two lobes like arms sticking out. ** Luo fails an Unnatural 4 check and freezes, turning white. Luo gets led away by Dr. Russel. Joan has to try and see, and freaks out screaming and beating the tree. As Dr. Russel wrestles her off, he sees it and goes white (but makes the check) and notices a well-preserved backpack back there. ** After failing madness triage AGAIN, he retrieves the pack. There's canned food with fades labels. There are a couple of photographs in there of a young woman (faded), a knife, and a ledger of some sort. * This is the diary of Reginald Smythe. This is the student who was supposedly found tortured to near death (who died) at the camp when they returned. He was found pinned to the tree by arrows and moaning. He was supposedly still conscious and able to point them to north, according to Letty's journal. ** Dr. Russel raises the question of whether they met him before or after he was turned into the tree. He hopes that the reasons they didn't describe this was a refusal accept what happened. * Luo attempts to reach Smythe. His wild eyes occasionally fix on Luo and slowly he starts to see him more and more, and the scream starts to fade. ** Back at the camp, there's surprised muttering over the fading screams. ** As Smythe starts to focus more, the screaming starts up again, but there are words this time: "Save them. Stop them," over and over again. ** Dr. Russel asks, "What can we do for you?" He keeps screaming, "Save them," and there is a rippling in the wood in the torso area. The bark starts to pull apart in several areas. Something starts to be coming out. Something small, shiny, and pink. There's a clunk as something falls to the ground. It's a rose talisman. 18 fall out in total. ** We decide to put him out of his misery. He's been in pain with nothing else to do for two years and doesn't really respond much to stimuli. Early walks around the tree and puts a bullet in Reginald's head. Early looks stoic and little bit more broken. ** 5 minutes later, the screaming starts again while Dr. Russel is trying to console him. Luo walks around the tree and sees the man's face inside the tree, screaming, with no bullethole. * As we deliberate what to do next, we start to the sounds of an engine (as do the people in camp). Mattheson recognizes it as the sound of a zeppelin. We can see through the canopy that one of its engines is on fire, and so is the envelope. Category:Session Logs